


Humanity Tether

by YourGirlThursday



Category: 12 Monkeys (TV)
Genre: F/M, Future Fic, sort of violent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-13
Updated: 2015-04-13
Packaged: 2018-03-22 17:59:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3738196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YourGirlThursday/pseuds/YourGirlThursday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ordinarily, Cole would've started punching the guy at this point. This new and (debatably) improved version only resorted to violence when it was absolutely necessary. Now that he wasn't the traveler, Cole had mellowed out. Cassie was the one who was ruthless now. It was like some bizarre take on the Law of Conservation of Mass. They were following the Law of Conservation of Bloodlust or maybe just Law of Conservation of Patience in Dealing with BS.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Humanity Tether

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ohgress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ohgress/gifts).



> The prompt was from Susen so this one's for her. She asked for "Reverse roles - softend Cole saying stop to hardend Cassie because she has gone too far and needs to calm down."
> 
> Hopefully this works :)
> 
> (It's a little dark.)

Cassie ground her teeth together. This stupidity was wasting her precious time. Cole had been interrogating this henchman for at least ten minutes already. The guy just kept saying he didn't know anything. It was tiring.

Ordinarily, Cole would've started punching the guy at this point. This new and (debatably) improved version only resorted to violence when it was absolutely necessary. Now that he wasn't the traveler, Cole had mellowed out. Cassie was the one who was ruthless now. It was like some bizarre take on the Law of Conservation of Mass. They were following the Law of Conservation of Bloodlust or maybe just Law of Conservation of Patience in Dealing with Bullshit.

Either way Cassie was over the way that this Cole was handling their captive. When his eyes met hers Cole backed away. Something about the arch of her eyebrows, the narrowing of her gaze told him that it was her turn. Cassie stepped in front of the stooge. He leered at her, clearly thinking she was going to let him go. Cassie leaned over him. He was seated on a chair with his hands bound behind him.

"If you think I'm the good cop, you're sorely mistaken, buddy," she hissed. Cassie landed a surprising blow to his stomach. The man would've doubled over had he not been tied up.

"Cass," Cole called out.

Cassie's smile was feral and her voice edged with barbed wire. "You had your turn, Cole."

Another punch to the stomach made the man groan.

"Where is Olivia?"

"I don't know," the man breathed out. He was winded so his voice had no force behind it.

Not liking the answer, Cassie followed with a right hook to his eye. It would explode into a devastating rainbow of colors the next day. Cole tried to ask Cassie to back down, but she ignored him.

"I asked you a question. Where is Olivia?"

"I don't know," the man told her, his voice tinged with fear.

Next, the heel of her hand snapped the delicate architecture of his nose. Blood gushed forth, staining his shirt and her hands. Cole's hand reached for Cassie's shoulder, but she shrugged him off.

"Answer my goddamned question!" Cassie shouted in the man's face.

"I don't know," he cried.

Cassie rolled her eyes. "You're useless to me then." She raised her gun so it was level with the man's face. As she pulled the safety back, Cole stepped in between her and the man.

"Stop! You can't do this. This isn't you, Cassie," Cole stated, belief coloring his voice.

"I'm not the same woman that went through the machine, Cole," she said harshly.

Cole looked her in the eye. "Please, Cassie."

"Get out of my way!" She growled.

Cole merely shook his head. Cassie pressed her gun, safety still on, into Cole's shirt before lowering it. He knew he was her weakness. She could never cause him any sort of pain. Cassie handed him the gun, barrel facing toward her.

"Let's get you cleaned up. We'll sort through the papers we found and look for a lead."

Cassie glared once more at the bloody man in the chair. "What about him?"

Cole frowned. "Someone'll find him in the morning."

As they were leaving the warehouse, Cassie found a bathroom and washed her hands. She watched the blood dilute to a pinkish color and circle down the drain. She scrubbed viciously at a spot of blood on her sleeve. It bothered her even though there were worse red-colored stains on the shirt.

"Out, out, damned spot!" Cassie murmured. She was pretty sure she was quoting Macbeth wrong, but it soothed her nerves some.

Cole stood outside. He was still on alert for any other strangers. The tension in his body uncoiled some when he saw Cassie.

"Ready?" He asked.

Cole held out his hand for Cassie to take. She stared at it for a moment before winding their fingers together. The gesture helped remind Cassie that her hands were made for healing and holding, not hurting. She brought their joined hands to her mouth and kissed his knuckles.  Cole was tethering her back to the person she used to be. This wasn't the first time it had happened since she had become a traveler. There were other times she had needed Cole to smooth out her new edges.

The thing that worried Cassie most was that he was the only thing holding her to her past. Cole was the fail-safe that kept her from leaving ruins and death in her wake. If he ever died, if she ever lost his love, she would succumb to the darkness and single-mindedness that had blinded Ramse and Aaron.

It terrified Cassie that all of her humanity was tied up in a person she couldn't protect. Cole had lost his advanced healing. Cassie was stuck in 2043 almost all of the time. She worried that one day she would splinter back and find him dead.

If that ever happened, the streets would run red with the blood of those responsible.

And there would be no pulling her back.

**Author's Note:**

> Cassie was conflating two quotes from Macbeth. They are "out, out, brief candle" and "out, damn spot. Out I say!" They usually blend together in my head, plus it seemed a little ridiculous to have her quoting it perfectly ;)


End file.
